Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
PSALM 139:7–10

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 Table of Contents
OLD TESTAMENT
God’s Spirit and Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Spirit Breathes Life into Adam and Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Day the Spirit Was Sad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Spirit Makes All Things New Again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
God’s Spirit Helps Abraham Say Yes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Spirit’s Gift to Joseph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
The Spirit of God Brings Wisdom and Understanding. . . . . 52
God’s Spirit Inspires a Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Spirit Dries Up the Sea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
The Spirit Inspires Bezalel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The Spirit Prepares Others to Help Moses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
God’s Spirit Speaks Through Balaam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The Spirit Is on Joshua. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
God’s Spirit Gives Confidence to Gideon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The Spirit Prepares Samson for God’s Service. . . . . . . . . . . 112
The Spirit Returns One Last Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Spirit Changes Saul into a Leader.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Spirit Inspires Saul to Lead an Army. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
God’s Spirit Comes to the Anointed King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Spirit Helps Amasai Speak Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
God’s Spirit Speaks through David. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
The Spirit Provides the Plans for God’s House. . . . . . . . . . . 158

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God’s Spirit Makes Azariah Speak Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

The Spirit and Jahaziel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
The Spirit Speaks through Zechariah the Priest. . . . . . . . . 176
Ezekiel Travels on the Wings of the Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
The Spirit Inspires Daniel to Explain Dreams. . . . . . . . . . . 190
The Spirit Makes Daniel Wise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
The Spirit Lives with God’s People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

NEW TESTAMENT
How Will Jesus Come?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
The Celebration of the Spirit’s Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
A Joy-Filled Father. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Simeon Sees through the Eyes of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
The Spirit Comes Like a Dove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The Spirit Helps Us Believe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Jesus Makes a Promise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Alive in the Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
The Big Event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
The Spirit Stays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Not for Sale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
The Spirit Takes Philip Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
The Holy Spirit Fills Saul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Everyone’s Spirit, Everyone’s Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
The Fruit of the Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
The Spirit Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

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 The Spirit Makes
All Things New Again
Based on the story found in Genesis 7–9

When you send your Spirit,

they are created, and you renew
the face of the earth.
PSALM 104:30

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 [ Art on this spread by Fernando Juarez ]

Noah, his family, and the animals

were safe on the ark. As water filled the deepest
valleys and covered the highest mountains, the
boat rode the waves and drifted across the endless
sea. God’s Spirit was with them the whole time.
His presence was powerful and calming.

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 34

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 [ Art on this spread by Fernando Juarez ]

After forty days, God cleared the rain clouds from the sky, and the sun’s
warmth and brightness appeared. God’s Spirit, the same one that hovered
over the waters at creation, sent a mighty wind and blew across the water.
The water formed rivers and streams again. Lakes, oceans, and seas all went
back to their proper places.
God’s Spirit made things new again. He put the orderly patterns of life
back into place. Once again grasses filled the meadows, flowers bloomed,
and trees grew.

35

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After a while, Noah’s boat settled high on the top of a mountain.

Finally God opened the door of the big boat. He let everyone out into
the new world.
Then God made Noah a promise: “As long as the earth exists, the
seasons will come and day and night will go on and on.” And God sealed
his promise with a sign—a shining colorful rainbow that spread across
the sky. •

37

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 The Spirit Comes
Like a Dove
Based on the story found in Matthew 3:13–17

As soon as Jesus was baptized,

he went up out of the water.
At that moment heaven was
opened, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove
and alighting on him.
MATTHEW 3:16

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John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, grew up. He moved

away from home and lived in the wilderness of Judea. By the time he was
thirty years old he had started preaching. He told people that the Messiah
was coming soon. Crowds of people came out to hear John teach and to
have him baptize them in the water of the Jordan River. He became known
as John the Baptist.

237

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 One day, Jesus, who had been living and working with his family in
Nazareth, left his home and walked many miles to find John near the Jordan
River.
“Hello, John,” Jesus said. “I’m glad I found you. I need you to baptize me.”

238

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John said, “I can’t baptize you. You should be baptizing me.”

Jesus replied, “John, this needs to be done. God wants you to baptize me.”
So John agreed. The men waded into the river and John baptized Jesus.

239

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 As Jesus came out of the water he
looked up. Suddenly heaven opened and
the Holy Spirit, in the form of a beautiful
white dove, glided down out of the sky.
As the dove came closer, it hovered over
Jesus’ head. Immediately a voice boomed
from heaven and declared: “You are my
Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased
with you. You are my pleasure and my joy.”
Jesus was filled with the Spirit and ready
to begin his ministry to the people. He
would make sick people well, blind people
see, deaf people hear, and crippled people
walk. He would feed people, be kind to
them, and free them from their sins. He
would show God’s love to everyone. •

240

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 [ Art on this spread by Fernando Juarez ]

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